“The autumn of 2013 will see Government proposals which may bring about the greatest changes to the provision of legally aided representation in criminal cases since the introduction of public funding for those accused of crime. The last two years have seen the most fundamental reduction of legal aid provision in family and general civil work since the introduction of legal aid in 1948.”

“There is one quote in the long-delayed Legal Education and Training Review report that gives the game away – perhaps accidentally. ‘It became clear,’ say the authors, ‘that removing some significant parts of the system, such as training contracts and pupillages, would not be acceptable.’ One must assume, then, that the reviewers accepted their remit would be strictly circumscribed at the outset. Was it not their job to decide what ought to be ‘acceptable’ – or at least actively considered? Seemingly not.”

“The fortunes of commercial and publicly funded barristers could hardly be more divergent at present. But it is not simply a ‘tale of two bars’. The bar’s monied and impecunious sections are co-dependent, according to those present at the Gazette’s roundtable discussion on the future of the bar. That division in fortunes is not new. But it has increased, and if further legal aid cuts follow, will become even more dramatic. As the discussion starts, it is noted that of 1,700 students emerging from bar school each year, perhaps fewer than 400 will secure pupillages – a modern low.”

“A barristers’ chambers which offered an unfunded pupillage to a former police chief constable has lost its appeal against a Bar Standards Board decision that the move ran foul of equality rules designed to stop ‘rich kids’ from self-funding.”

“The beginning of August was ‘judgment day’ for many aspiring barristers – offer day for both Pupillage Portal (the centralised pupillage online application system) and many non-portal pupillages. After a long summer of interviews the big question was whether all that hard work had been worthwhile – did that elusive pupillage offer await worthy candidates?”